If there was any doubt in the matter of Neil Gaiman being a good egg, it was dashed a while ago when he mentioned that an age-old tradition can be instantly instigated in a family if it is done once with the proper conviction.

This is precisely how many of our family's traditions have come about. For example, at some point in my relatively early teen years, we had pizza for dinner on Christmas Eve. The next year we had it again, because it was Tradition ("But we ALWAYS have pizza on Christmas Eve!"). And now, twentyish years later, it really *is* Tradition. I think in the past two decades I've only not had pizza on Christmas Eve once or twice, and I've bemoaned the lack.

The thing about marrying a chef, though, means that he's not especially satisfied with *ordering* pizza. It came as quite a surprise to us when he, having accepted the Pizza Tradition as wrote, *made* pizza for dinner. (I was, mind you, equally surprised the time I said, wistfully, that I'd like to have tacos for my birthday, and Ted put together an entire Mexican feast for dinner. Tacos, enchiladas, refried beans, and something else I can't remember right now. We were all stunned. :))

So everybody's coming down for Christmas, and I'm making dough, and in a couple of hours, Ted will make the Traditional Christmas Eve Pizza Dinner, and it will all be wonderful.

I love my family. :)